Agnico-Eagle Mines (TSE) has discovered a new gold-bearing zone lying 300 ft. north of the main producing horizon at the LaRonde mine near Rouyn-Noranda, Que.
Agnico intersected the 2-3 ft. thick zone while driving an exploration drift on the 20th level, 2,800 ft. below surface and 1,700 ft. east of the shaft. Channel samples averaging 0.2-1.2 oz. gold per ton traced the zone over a strike length of 160 ft.
Subsequent underground drilling from the 20th level returned gold-rich intersections, including 10.8 ft. grading 0.29 oz. gold (cut to 1 oz.), 1.96 oz. silver, 1.06% zinc and 0.66% copper in hole 20-68 and, 200 ft. further east, 1.5 ft. grading 0.14 oz. gold. The zone remains open in all directions. Agnico says the new zone may correlate with a sulphide horizon traced on the fourth level (525 ft. below surface), where previous drilling intersected gold values of 0.1-0.15 oz. gold over thicknesses of 10-15 ft. While the company sets up additional drill stations on the 20th level, a surface rig is probing the horizon along strike. Surface sampling suggests the new zone has a strike length of 1.5 miles.
For the third quarter, Agnico reports net earnings of $600,000 (2 cents per share) compared with a net loss of $2.6 million (9 cents per share) for the same period last year. Income from production amounted to $20 million on 49,858 oz. compared with $18.5 million on 39,603 oz. in 1990. Record gold production levels are expected to continue in the fourth quarter.
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